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Dog Weight

I have read a few posts on dog food, eating etc. I received an email from the owner of one of my pups. Female lab, 7 months old, she weighs 88 pounds. Says he feeds her 1 1/2 cups IAMS puppy twice a day adds 1 cup nonfat milk with one feeding. also slips in some meat he gets from the local diner. He says his last pup outweighed litter mates by 20 pounds, (dog is not FAT)

She may not be fat (or she may be???) but that seems way to BIG for her age. If she grows too fast, she will have problems with her bones and joints. You did not say if it was IAMS Large breed puppy or plain puppy. Labs should not eat regular puppy food...either LARGE BREED puppy or Adult. She is growing too fast and she certainly doesn't need "meat from a local diner" ! I would say she weighs twice what she should weigh at that age.

If it were a pup from one of my breedings I would be very worried, I would not want them to come back to me asking for $$$ when her hips go bad. In fact, I used to put a clause in my puppy contract that said they must be fed Large Breed puppy or Adult food or I would not guarentee hips, and my pups came from EXC X EXC.

Growing way too fast and too heavy for that age. My dogs don't ever get that big much less at 7 mo. I don't know the puppy owner but how does he gauge "not fat". I find that most people who don't run tests or trials tend to have fat dogs. Just about every dog that comes to me for training is overweight initially and they go on a diet.

If I were you I would advise the owner to feed the recommended amount of a large breed puppy food and cut out that other stuff (meat and milk). The above poster was correct, if this continues you may be looking at a puppy with bad knees, hips, etc.

I don't know if twice the weight is correct but something in the 50-60 lb range would be more normal for 7 months. How big were the sire and dam?

Dairy is not a good idea for dogs unless its goats milk or the like. I agree with the folks above, growing one that fast is not a good idea. The muscle and cartilage development is hurried and thats never a good thing.

I agree with all of the above, plus depending on what you're looking for, the bigger gun dogs are a little slower... I like a well built mid sized athletic dog. skinny greyhound lookin labs aren't my bag and huge mastiff/rotty sized labs arent my bag. Hopefully the pup growing so large doesnt effect it's joints. Nothing worse than joint problems

We have a male at our place we're training, 10 mos. old, weighs easy 75 lbs and, he's not fat, just a big dog. He gets 5 cups of the breeder recommended large breed puppy food a day. I don't understand the milk thing or the "scrap" thing either; if you feed a quality feed, you shouldn't need to supplement, it's usually an owner "need", makes them feel good, not the dog requiring or needing it. Clarify the measuring utensil used, frequently the container used to measure isn't anywhere close to accurate.

dog was weighed at the vet, he asked the vet about the dogs size, if she was fat, vet said no. my guy out of the same litter is 60 pounds and looks 50. one other male is 70 75 pounds
also, one other female was 10 pounds lighter than my male. RIOSHEPHERD.jpg

We have a male at our place we're training, 10 mos. old, weighs easy 75 lbs and, he's not fat, just a big dog. He gets 5 cups of the breeder recommended large breed puppy food a day. I don't understand the milk thing or the "scrap" thing either; if you feed a quality feed, you shouldn't need to supplement, it's usually an owner "need", makes them feel good, not the dog requiring or needing it. Clarify the measuring utensil used, frequently the container used to measure isn't anywhere close to accurate.

Yes, I can see this. 1) he is a male 2) he is 3 months older and 3) he is 13 lb liter.